Patrick Wisdom is thriving in new role on Chicago Cubs bench

Patrick Wisdom belted an insurance home run for the Chicago Cubs during their 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday in extra innings.

Wisdom's home run on Sunday was a reminder of his power, which has led to the question of whether or not the slugging corner infielder should be in the starting lineup on a more consistent basis.

The quick answer to that the question is no.

Part of the reason why Wisdom is finding success this season is because of how selective Craig Counsell has been in deploying the slugger.

On the season, as a whole, Wisdom is slashing .321/.441/.679 with a 212 wRC+ in 34 plate appearances. Breaking down Wisdom's splits on the season and it's what you've come to expect.

Wisdom is thriving against left-handed pitching this season as he is slashing .462/.588/.923 with a 307 wRC+ in 17 plate appearances. In the same amount of plate appearances, Wisdom is slashing .200/.294/.467 against right-handed pitching this season with a wRC+ of 116.

While Wisdom does have the same amount of plate appearances against left-handed pitchers as he does right-handed pitchers this season, it's clear that Counsell is determining his playing time based on matchups.

Patrick Wisdom is finally in his best role with the Chicago Cubs.

Of the 11 games that Wisdom has played in this season, he has started in 7. In those 7 games, Wisdom is slashing .320/.433/.680 with a 1.113 OPS.

All this to say is that Wisdom is a matchup-based player. That was the main takeaway that Cubs fans should have had last season when Wisdom's offensive production regressed considerably after the first month of the 2023 season, is that his shortcomings are exposed when he is an everyday player. That is the reason why there is no need to change his current role on the Cubs, as he provides the most value to the team in the role that Counsell is using him.